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I have been making a lot of cold brews, and I decided that I really, really, like oolongs cold brewed. I had been using flavoured oolongs, so I thought I would try something straight.

But I failed to take into account that I had been using quite roasty, more oxidized oolongs. This one didn’t turn out so great. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted like a delicious greeny oolong, buttery, nutty, smooth. But something about it cold just didn’t work.

Would be happy to drink this one hot any time, not so much cold.

Thank you KittyLovesTea for this in a swap.

I have never much liked pu-erh, but I also don’t think I have ever had really good pu-erh.

Each mini brick is individually wrapped and looks to be in immaculate condition. They smell like dark chocolate, cocoa and burnt caramel.

I so much wanted to like this pu-erh, but sadly after it was brewed, I was getting the same tastes I didn’t like from the other ones I have tried. I decided to cold brew this one to see if it made a difference in the taste. Sometimes cold brewing can change the taste profile of the tea, so I thought it was wise to try. The one mistake I made, was I put the new brick into some water, when I should have made some hot tea, then re-steeped the leaves as the cold brew. After 41 hours, the brick has expanded, but has not broken apart. It took a long time for the brew to steep.

It was a medium brown colour, slightly red tinge. It has the cocoa, burnt caramel tastes but there is also that earty, dirt-like taste that I do not like.

I was able to drink most of this brew, but not something I would enjoy on a regular basis at all. I am most likely willing to try more of this tea. Will see what happens.

I cold brewed this one for about 7 hours. I could have brewed it for a bit longer but I wanted cold tea and didn’t want to wait. It is pretty good. Similar to the hot brew. I found the the opus rouge did take over the blend, even though I used 2/3 citus lavender sage and 1/3 opus rouge. There is a strong grape type taste, and then underneath that there is citrus and sage. The lavender is very light, which I don’t mind at all. It is very juice-like and refreshing.

Cold brewed this one for about 11 hours. This one is much more strawberry and guava vs. dragonfruit. It smells more dragonfruit than it tastes. There is a light dragonfruit flavour and possibly an extremely faint rose scent in the background of the tea. This tea is fairly sweet on its own, there is a slight tartness at the beginning of the sip. I am happy I stopped brewing this one when I did, as I think it could have become bitter with too long of a steep.

Made the last of my sample as a cold brew. As a reminder, this blend came to me pre-mixed with a tonne of rock sugar. I brewed for about 12 hours. It is much better as a cold brew. More juice like, orange, pineapple, apple juice. It is super, super sweet from all the sugar. I personally would not add as much or maybe not add any sugar at all if I made this one my own.

Made this as a cold brew. Brewed for about 12 hours. I found this one is much more nutty, and not so much fruity as a cold brew. It smells like strong almond butter, with faint notes of fruity flavour. The taste is very nutty. Very creamy, almond, hazelnut flavour. Almost slight hints of vanilla. There is a very light taste of apricot underneath the nutty flavour but I have to think hard to pick it out. The fruity flavour is moreso in the aftertaste. It makes a decent cold brew, but because it is tasting creamy, I would prefer it as a hot brew.

This tea smells lovely. The dry tea smells just like the description, I smell dragonfruit, guava, strawberry, and rose. It smells sweet, like candied fruit.

The brewed tea tastes very similar to the dry smell. I get mostly guava, then dragonfruit, followed by undertones of strawberry, and a very light rose flavour. It does not taste as sweet as it smells, but to me, the sweetness level is perfect for this tea.

Very delicious, looking forward to try as a cold brew. This is one of the first Teavana teas that I have tried that tastes like what the description says.

Made this one as a cold brew. Normally I like bamboo as a cold brew. This one, all I can take is lemongrass and verbena. There is a slight spicey aftertaste, which I would guess is the ginger, but it does not necessarily taste like ginger. The lemongrass would make this a thirst quenching, cold drink, but I think I prefer this one hot.

I received this tea as a free sample from Teavana with my last internet order. I was super disappointed to see it was pre-mixed with rock sugar. The instructions recommend steeping the entire 1oz sample for 16oz water. I thought this was way too much so I used 1.5tsp.

The dry tea smells like orange juice. There are large pieces of dried fruit, a very small amount of white tea and unfortunately, tonnes of rock sugar.

The brewed tea tastes like hot juice: apple, pineapple, orange, and I am tasting black current but the ingredients only list red current. It is much, much more sweet than I would have liked. There is a weird aftertaste which I associate with the sugar.

Overall, I think the blend would be good but without all of the rock sugar. I am going to try the rest of my sample as a cold brew.

I know I have had this before, not the tea, but the cake. This tea smells and tastes just like a raspberry sponge cake with custard. Mmmmmm. Not sure where or when I have had this, but it is bringing up memories of a small individual sized round sponge cake topped with thick custard and a raspberry sauce.

The dry tea is a beautiful mix of dried raspberries, black tea, and chopped raspberry leaves. It smells like sweet and tart raspberries. The brewed tea smells much the same. The brewed tea tastes just like a raspberry sponge cake. There is a creaminess to the tea, but not so much like cream, more like custard. There is also a light sponge cake or angel food cake taste in the background. Sweet enough on its own, but not overpoweringly sweet.

This is my first Bluebird Tea and I am SUPER impressed. Definitely going to try this as a cold brew as well.

Thanks so much Kittylovestea for sharing this with me!